The Shotgun Blog

Monday, September 22, 2008

Excerpt: Tyranny of Nice by Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere

Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere have penned a book excoriating Canada's Human Rights Commissions and tribunals. Entitled "The Tyranny of Nice: How Canada crushes freedom in the name of human rights (and why it matters to Americans)," the book is one-part treatise on the importance of freedom of speech and expression, and one-part denunciation of Canada's official policy to squelch it.

From the "About the book" section: "Canada's human rights commissions endanger the historic freedoms of expression, religious conscience, and the press. Over the past year, the activities of these pseudo-courts have been under greater scrutiny, but their ominous disregard for freedom of speech, religion and the press is nothing new. In The Tyranny of Nice, authors Kathy Shaidle and Pete Vere expose these kangaroo courts and explore their dangerous implications."

The authors are experts on the Human Rights Commissions. Shaidle, who blogs at Five Feet of Fury and has penned a critically-acclaimed poetry collection, is currently fighting an HRC-related court case. Vere, meanwhile, is an author and journalist who has written extensively about the HRCs for newspapers like the Washington Times.

Continuing our free speech & expression week here at the Western Standard, we've secured an exclusive excerpt from the book, courtesy of Interim publications. The official release date for the book is September 29, but you can order a copy of it now on this website.

The excerpt, entitled "The Steyn show trial," Shaidle and Vere tear into the absurdity of a trial against Maclean's magazine, which had the temerity to publish an excerpt from Mark Steyn's book "America Alone". Meanwhile, the mainstream media's silence on the issue was deafening.

Where was the outrage? A magazine of Maclean's calibre is being taken to a quasi-court (a kangaroo court-cum-tribunal, to be precise), and apart from occasional ripostes from Rex Murphy, David Warren, and Andrew Coyne, the rest of us had to get the real story from blogs like our former publisher Ezra Levant's, or U.S.-based news outlets and blogs. Officials in Canada were interrogating a news magazine, and Americans seemed to care more and expressed more shock than our official news outlets did.

A few excerpts:

"By the time the “show trial” against Mark Steyn and Maclean’s began on June 2, 2008 the case had become a cause celebre in the formidable U.S. conservative media network of blogs and talk radio. Four heavyweight pundits--Jonah Goldberg, Robert Spencer, David Harsanyi and Pat Buchanan--rebuked the censors of “Soviet Canuckistan” on the very same day.

But Canada’s liberal mainstream media more or less shrugged. Veteran journalism professor John Miller condemned the “xenophobic” Steyn in an online forum by and for professional reporters, accusing Steyn of failing to express his opinions “in food [sic] faith”, then scolding prissily that “everyone must obey the law.” This lead Parliament Hill reporter Deborah Gyapong to ask the obvious question: “What if the law advocated slavery or chopping off hands?”..."Not a few bloggers noted ruefully that the last day of Steyn’s trial coincided with the anniversary of D-Day, and wondered what the Canadian soldiers who’d died on Juno Beach would make of their nation today."

Nice to see Five Feet of Hackery (soon to be Five Feet of Bankruptcy, I expect) has learned the virtue of consulting counsel before you start telling lies about people. It'd be nicer still if she learned to do some original reporting, rather than simply stitching together the commentary of right-wing blowhards better known than she is (aka "heavyweight pundits) and calling it a book.
I'm sure the Richard Warman Stalking Society will gobble it up, but if this slapdash excerpt is any guide, the book will be of little use to anyone who actually wants to learn anything about the issue.

There's your blurb. You're welcome.

Posted by: truewest | 2008-09-22 9:07:10 PM

but if this slapdash excerpt is any guide, the book will be of little use to anyone who actually wants to learn anything about the issue.
Posted by: truewest | 22-Sep-08 9:07:10 PM

So...just what is it we need to read to learn about the issue?

Posted by: JC | 2008-09-22 9:15:32 PM

Truewest is the highest of authorities, he is a reknowned Blog Wannabee Lawyer and now Literary Critic, truly a legend in his own mind.

TrueWest showed up same day. Kathy wins the pool. As for you, TrueWest, don't you have more to contribute than ad hominem horseshit? Or are you afraid that, in the face of someone who has researched the issues enough to put out a lawsuit-resistant book, you'll end up with even more egg on your face than you already have?

"HRC commissioners don't need legal training." Bah!

Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2008-09-23 6:45:03 AM

I reiterate, ad nauseum:

It is not "libel" to quote verbatim from sworn expert testimony uttered in a public, taxpayer funded forum.

That sworn testimony may or may not turn out to be true. There are "experts" on the stand for both sides at every trial. They tend not to get sued if their side loses, and neither do the reporters who published their contemporaneous remarks.

PS: my book was plugged on FOX News last night, so bankrupt is quite the opposite of what I'll soon be, dear.

If it's making you sick, why do you insist on reiterating the same bogus line of defence? First, it doesn't fully answer the allegations made against you in the statement of claim. And, more to the point, it's not like pissing in my ear is going to make the lawsuit go away. Tell it the judge, lady.
Congratulations on the Fox plug, by the way. Perhaps you can offer a special deal for Fox News viewers: free pack of crayons with every download.

Posted by: Truewest | 2008-09-23 8:18:03 AM

Truewest is perhaps the most unhinged lefty I have encountered in some time, I always get a kick out of his free legal advice.

I get this from a shyster who hasn't even got the stones to put his real name to his opinions. ENTRAPMENT IS ILLEGAL and he DID IT WHILE AN AGENT OF THE STATE. He also admits to contributing the very same material that he is suing the entire Right-wing blogosphere to have removed. His motives are irrelevant. You don't get to break the law, or even Section 13, just because you have a cause.

"WE"? Are you in cahoots with him? I'm not saying I believe it, but it would certainly explain a great deal.

One time and one time only, TrueWest: DO NOT THREATEN ME.

Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2008-09-23 9:25:29 AM

Continue your defence of this man and the CHRC if you like, TrueWest. As evidence of breathtakingly brutal quasi-judicial abuse mounts, similar government agencies--the notorious Children's Services, for one--are proactively moderating their stance. In a few years this man may find himself in the dock with Charles Smith and Dean Stacey, convicted in the court of public opinion as the men who brought untold shame and disgrace to their respective professions and left a long trail of innocent victims in the process.

But hey, they had a cause.

Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2008-09-23 9:37:13 AM

P.S. And apparently, you approve. Neither true nor, apparently, west.

Posted by: Shane Matthews | 2008-09-23 9:40:51 AM

Kathy Shaidle's website is an overwhelming success. That is a relative fact. All her relatives read there. It's also evidence that there are lots of nasty people who enjoy reading nasty and provocative (do not read "thoughtful") stuff online.

Folks also enjoy: gawking at car wrecks, reality tv shows where gossip is the art and craft, and many other activities that burn very few calories.

Shaidle will not, however, outlast this tenent: 15 minutes of fame. We all get it. Enjoy.

Play? Play at what, BCF? My point is plain. Shaidle captures the imagination of thousands of bigots. Bigots, in my experience, are motivated by fear. Shaidle's game (she is "playing" as are you...) is "look at me, look at the brave and outrageous things I write on my blog..."

Things like "raghead" etc etc, ad predictable nauseum. The good news, BCF, is that offline, you don't exist. Not saying that the racist views you espouse don't exist, saying that the blogomania you are so infatuated with begins and ends in front of your computer screen.

Shane O'Rourke ;
She rally must have pushed some buttons. You work for the US treasury? The ink just drips green all over.

Posted by: Revnant Dream | 2008-09-24 7:30:00 PM

I'm curious Shane, how is she racist? I've been reading her website for some time now, and while I find criticism of the human rights commission, and the occasional ad hominim attack on the left wing, I have yet to hear her criticize anyone on the basis of their skin color alone.

Posted by: Turnip713 | 2008-09-29 2:36:00 AM

BlazingCatFur,
"Truewest is perhaps the most unhinged lefty I have encountered in some time"
If TW is currently the biggest loon in this pond, then you need to come south. We have great big honking flocks of loons, far away more unhinged. On one hand the hunting is great, a target rich environment as we would say in some circles. On the other hand we are overrun. There is desperate need for some chlorine in the gene pool.

I am not quite sure what to make of Shane, I think his mother let him out to play, and needs to call him home for a nap. He is obviously tired and cranky. Must have soiled himself.